Take It Easy
by Kay080
Summary: There's a new girl in town. She is Skip's little sister, and with her amazing skills she instantly catches the attention of the Z Boys. But what happens when Jay falls for her?


**Take It Easy**

"Laura Taylor?"

The thin woman with wild blonde hair nodded slowly, eyeing the police officers that stood in her doorway. She took a long drag from her cigarette. "Yes, can I help you officers?" Suddenly, from behing the two big men a smaller version of the woman stepped forward. She had straight blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and the face of an angel.

Laura scowled. "What have you done now?" She spat.

The girl shrugged as though she didn't care that she had been brought home at 2:00 AM by the cops. The taller of the two men spoke. "Ma'am, your daughter was picked up for vandalism. She was caught with a group of kids that were spray painting on the side of the old Smith Convience Store."

Laura shook her head. "Thank you officers, I don't know what i'm gonna do with her." The two men turned to walk away, Laura and the girl left alone, in the doorway. As the cop car pulled away the girl brushed past

Laura, making her way into the dingy kitchen of the small house.

Laura followed. "Jude, what the hell are you thinking?"

The girl, Jude, didn't speak. Laura continued. "Why do you have to be such a bitch, huh? Why do you have to embarrass me like that?"

Finally Jude spoke up. She wore a grin. "Look mom, you embarrass yourself. Everyone in this town knows what you are." Laura frowned. "And what exactly am I?" She yelled.

"Oh, let me think.." Jude began. She paused. "You are a drug addict, you bring home different men every night and oh, let's not forget about the fact that you were a stripper for twelve years!"

Laura slapped her daughter. "You ungreatful little whore."

-

Jude Taylor was many things, but she was not a liar. At sixteen years old she had pretty much figured everyone, and everything out. She had been raised in a poor neighbourhood by a mother who didn't care about her at all. As long as Jude was out of Laura's hair, it didn't matter where she was or what she was doing.

Now here she was in Venice Beach with a bookbag slung over her shoulder and a skateboard clutched under her left arm. She had no one, and these things were the only things she possesed. Where she would sleep that night was even now a mystery.

Laura had asked Jude to leave the night before, after their argument. She hadn't thought about the fact that her daughter had no one and no where to go. Jude was used to this though, she was street smart, and she knew how to survive in the toughest of places.

Venice Beach was the first place she thought of running too. It held her past, and possibly her future.

She walked until she came to a small shop, by the water. Squinting in the sunlight she read the words printed on the sign above the door. "Zephyr Skate Shop." Before she knew it, Jude was standing at a counter, tapping her long fingers on the wood.

"Can I help you?" She heard a man's voice, slurring. Looking around Jude saw no one. Then he stepped into the light, and she recgonized him instantly. "Long time since I saw you."

Skip frowned. He held a beer bottle in one hand, a cigarette in the other. "Jude?" He asked, pulling his sunglasses from his eyes. She nodded. Skip Engblom was the one thing that drew her to this town. She hadn't seen him in years, since he showed up at her door, looking for her mother.

"You look .. older." He suddenly seemed to sober up, his face becoming serious. "I turned sixteen last month." She replied.

Skip looked uncomfortable. "Sorry I missed it."

Jude shrugged. "It's 'ight." She studyed the shop closely. "Nice place you got here."

Skip nodded, taking a drag from his smoke. "Yeah, it's coming along." A silence filled the air. "Jude, why are you here?"

Jude looked at him with a sheepish look. "Mom kicked me out last night."

Skip didn't look surprised. "Oh."

Jude nodded. "But it's fine. I'll be fine." She didn't want Skip to feel that he had to take her in or anything, although secretly that was the outcome she was really hoping for.

"You, uh, need a place to stay for a while?"

Jude nodded. "I'd like that."

-

Laura Taylor had been just fifteen when she found out she was pregnant with her first child, a boy. Everyone had called him Skip, from the time he was very young. Now in his mid-twenties, Skip had distanced himself from everything and everyone in his past.

Jude didn't blame him. He'd grown up with Laura, and the many men of her life. He knew what it was like. Just like Jude, he'd been on his own since he was just sixteen years old. Now here she was, sleeping on Skip's couch. It was something she'd never expected to happen.

Jude worked in the shop, something she didn't mind considering she was a skater herself. She liked being around boards and the people who mastered them.

"Hey Skip, sorry i'm late." A boy about Jude's age entered the shop. He had long brown hair, and a face that reminded Jude of innocence.

"It's alright man, just don't let it happen again." Skip called from the back.

The boy stopped up as soon as he saw Jude. "Do you work here?" He asked.

"Yeah, i'm Jude Taylor."

The boy nodded slowly. "I'm Sid."

Skip appeared from the back, stumbling out through the inventory. "Sid, this is my sister. She's staying with me for a while."


End file.
